Death's Head (Famous Translation with Illustrations)

Author: Gogol
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-04-01
Features: The Dead Souls, a masterpiece of Russian writer Gogol, is the cornerstone of the development of Russian critical realism literature and the pinnacle of Gogol's realistic creative works. Belinsky highly praised it as a "landmark work on the Russian literary scene" and a work that "stands above all other works of Russian literature past and present," both "national" and "highly artistic." The novel depicts the story of a speculator and con artist—Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, a sixth-class official—buying dead souls. Chichikov arrives in a certain city, first spending more than a week building connections with officials from the governor down to the chief building technician. Then, he goes to the suburbs to buy serfs who have died but have not yet had their records canceled, intending to use them as living serfs to mortgage to the supervisory committee and. He visits one after another, engaging in fierce haggling, and manages to buy a large number of dead souls. When he happily completes the legal transaction with the help of his well-established connections, his criminal activities are exposed, and the inspector is rumored to have died of the scandal. Chichikov is forced to flee in a hurry. The publication of The Dead Souls shook the entire Russia. With the sharp pen of the author, the terrible reality of various greedy and ignorant landlords, corrupt and decadent officials, and the miserable plight of the serfs are exposed in full. Thus, with its profound ideological content, clear critical tendency, and immense artistic power, it became a foundational masterpiece of Russian critical realism literature, a model of satirical works in both Russian and world literature.